Pirates of Silicon Valley

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have pioneered an industry that literally transformed the entire world. The passion, luck and genius of these quirky visionaries is presented in this portrayal of the fierce and often humorous battle to rule the fledgling personal computer empire.

"Microsoft? Nobody I knew ever heard of Microsoft. Or Bill Gates. I mean, they were nobodies. But then we were all nobodies, which was perfect for us. Because all the respectable, straight-arrow guys were busy doing what they always do, which is be respectable. Which meant the rest of us could run around acting like crazies, which is what we did best. I miss those days."

Mostly remember Anthony Michael Hall from John Hughes movies in the 80s ("National Lampoon's Vacation," "Sixteen Candles," "Weird Science," "The Breakfast Club"... to name just a few); later from the USA Network original series adapted from Stephen King's "The Dead Pool." Casting director chose the perfect actor to portray Gates, IMO.

carnett1
May 15, 2015

Duos of privilege and individuals of "independence" patterns of attributes.

D&G, D2Squared, the Googlers and these two.

Nothing new.

Adamrose36
May 14, 2015

Microsoft's Bill Gates,and Apple's Steve Jobs both started out in the business of computers. I remember learning about both in Highschool which was 8 years ago can't believe it's been that long now I have a BA in Business for four years. If you are interested in knowing the story behind Bill Gates,and Steve Jobs how they started out you should watch this DVD it's very good. 96 minutes rounds off to 1 hour 36 minutes.

aaa5756
Jul 04, 2014

This DVD movie was entertaining and interesting but not one of my favorite for this year. Not too bad---good performance.

a5a22406
Jul 06, 2013

Interesting to watch the beginnings of Bill Gates, Stephen Jobs and, of course, the rest is history. Good movie about how things got started.

Don't be put off by the stigma attached to TV movies. This film is fairly thorough (especially considering how little research was actually done, relatively speaking). It's the story of both Microsoft and Apple working from the seventies to the nineties. You have two people who are very similar, yet very different. It also stirs the imagination of what makes a perfect team -- it's not simply the idea, but the execution. It is fair to say that innovation sometimes trumps invention (as shown with Xerox's desktop GUI and their mouse). Soundtrack is also fantastic. Kudos. For anyone who's interested in knowing the real story, but doesn't want to put too much time into it to get the main idea, this film is perfect for them. Very enjoyable, with a combination of drama and humour (like a dilution and extension of the Oscar-nominated THE SOCIAL NETWORK.)

Age Suitability

Summary

Steve Jobs and Bill Gates have pioneered an industry that literally transformed the entire world. The passion, luck and genius of these quirky visionaries is presented in this portrayal of the fierce and often humorous battle to rule the fledgling personal computer empire.
Noah Wyle, Anthony Michael Hall, Joey Slotnick, John DiMaggio, Josh Hopkins